D'Addario string prices?!!

[Bobby Timmons]

There's more to politics than the president. I think the lobbyists and their corporate backers have more real power than the president. I also think I'm very ignorant on this topic and I don't know why I started this.

I was generalizing and speaking from a not completely informed position so I forgive you for doing the same. Still it's a common complaint to blame the president for the economy when he doesn't have complete control over it. Biden gets blamed for inflation when he inherited the pandemic. The US printed money to get through it. Quick google search shows the money supply was increased by a quarter, resulting in inflation. While republicans would like to spin it as Biden is just so commie that the inflation was his own doing. lol

did the us print money during covid - Google Search

[AllanAllen]

I think the main problem is our economy is measured and propped up by the stock market. I don't think the 2008 recession ever ended for regular people, the stocks just went up so much that the economy measured better.

But what do I know, I only minored in economics at UiC.

[Bobby Timmons]

By problem do you mean the US economy not completely supporting the lower class? What is the problem with the economy being propped up by the stock market? Corporations get funding from investors. If that were eliminated it would only mean less funding and so less jobs.. You're sounding pretty commie. :P

[AllanAllen]

By problem do you mean the US economy not completely supporting the lower class? What is the problem with the economy being propped up by the stock market? Corporations get funding from investors. If that were eliminated it would only mean less funding and so less jobs.. You're sounding pretty commie. :P

I’d like it if the lower class had job options, decent schools and grocery stores. If that makes me a communist so be it.

[Litterick]

Do Americans eat real food?

[Bobby Timmons]

^ No, we eat McDonald's constantly. :P

[DawgBone]

Do Americans eat real food?

Do you have world class beef brisket ten or fifteen minutes from your door?

How about Carolina ribs?

Have you ever had a legit New York style pizza?

MN wild rice?

We got the horn of plenty over here.

You ain't getting that in Paris or Invercargill bub.

[Bobby Timmons]

My personal fav, the california burrito.

Check Out This Loaded California Burrito | Feast On These TV #shorts #shortsfood #burrito - YouTube

[Peter C]

Do Americans eat real food?

(All in good fun, of course)

New Zealand PM divides nation by putting canned spaghetti on pizza | CBC Radio

[Jazzjourney4Eva]

Do Americans eat real food?

Increasingly not.

And Bill Gates would like to double down on that. Right after he and his ex have another squabble over his relationship with Epstein, lol.

[Jazzjourney4Eva]

I play TI Bebops. Not cheap, but not as expensive as my preferred Bensons, which are a bit heavy for my fingers on long scale archtops these days.

My current set has been on my guitar for about a year, while I used to change them every few months. I guess I'm getting lazy (and yes, they sound fine).

[Jazzjourney4Eva]

Do you have any proof that concentration of wealth is the cause of inflation? I have a degree in Economics from NYU and I do not remember that connection ever being put forward during my studies. There are certainly problems with undue concentration of wealth, but I do not remember inflation being one of them. Printing too much money and constraining supply chains OTOH, do have a historically proven connection to inflation. And both of those things did happen in our recent history.

And if the ultra wealthy were spending their money instead of hoarding it, I suspect that inflation would be worse.

I live in San Francisco and have seen many drag queens quite over the 47 years that I have been here. They don't bother me and I don't bother them. Somehow, I am pretty sure that they have nothing to do with the price of guitar strings.

Wifey has an econ degree too, top of her class. Like you, she went into another white collar profession. Me? I'm no economist (like y'all ain't) but have paid attention to a lot of things since late 2019 as a high-tech business pro, affected by supply chain issues, and am a person who has executed two successful real estate transactions in that period. The following is my off-the-cuff understanding. Tell me how I did.

1. The Wuhan Institute/Fauci Virus hit the world.
2. Lockdowns occurred.
3. Demand contracted.
4. China was hit hard, and China manufactures a LOT of things for the world, especially the West and America.
5. Everybody else was hit hard too.
6. Supply contracted.
7. COVID is likely forever - but "the pandemic" is over.
8. Lockdowns ended.
9. Demand has skyrocketed - at least relative to #2.

So,,,, hello inflation. And be grateful for #7.

[Bobby Timmons]

^ Did you not read my post #26? :P

[Jazzjourney4Eva]

^ Did you not read my post #26? :P

I have now.

Are you suggesting that massive government spending (under any admin) has no impact on inflation?
Are you suggesting that Biden's track record is one of "fiscal conservatism"? Of course you aren't.

[Bobby Timmons]

I was saying pumping out more money into the money supply via the stimulus to get through the pandemic also contributed to inflation, not only supply and demand being messed with. This happened over the course of the end of Trump's term in 20 and the beginning of Biden's term in 21 and would have happened regardless of what administration was in charge.

[tbeltrans]

Do Americans eat real food?

Road kill is real and healthy.

By the way, where IS my cat???!!!

Tony

[Jazzjourney4Eva]

I was saying pumping out more money into the money supply via the stimulus to get through the pandemic also contributed to inflation, not only supply and demand being messed with. This happened over the course of the end of Trump's term in 20 and the beginning of Biden's term in 21 and would have happened regardless of what administration was in charge.

No disagreement here.

[Stringswinger]

Wifey has an econ degree too, top of her class. Like you, she went into another white collar profession. Me? I'm no economist (like y'all ain't) but have paid attention to a lot of things since late 2019 as a high-tech business pro, affected by supply chain issues, and as a person who has executed two real estate transactions in that period. The following is my off-the-cuff understanding. Tell me how I did.

1. The Wuhan Institute/Fauci Virus hit the world.
2. Lockdowns occurred.
3. Demand contracted.
4. China was hit hard, and China manufactures a LOT of things for the world, especially the West and America.
5. Everybody else was hit hard too.
6. Supply contracted.
7. COVID is likely forever - but "the pandemic" is over.
8. Lockdowns ended.
9. Demand has skyrocketed - at least relative to #2.

So,,,, hello inflation. And be grateful for #7.

Add all that money printing (as Jimmy Smith pointed out) to what you wrote and there we have it.

Now, IMO, even if we did not have the lockdowns here in America that we did (and I think they were too much, too soon and for too long), the rest of the world, particularly China still would have locked down and we would still be facing this nasty inflation to some extent.

From my vantage point, Jerome Powell is doing a great job and we should have a soft landing and see inflation recede over the next year or two.

[Jazzjourney4Eva]

Add all that money printing (as Jimmy Smith pointed out) to what you wrote and there we have it.

Yup. But is there more than COVID spending going on? Is idealogical spending happenin'?

[TAA]

Now you guys have gone and dun it…..introduced politics! On another forum I referred to the virus as The China Gift and got lectured.

There is no end or 100% correct conclusion to the above debate. It just goes on and on and on…

Have to add… I have no problem with people who have more than me. A “wealthy” guy gave me a job and I worked for his company for 51-years until I retired. I’m thankful for what I have and I am not an envy driven socialist.

Tom

[Litterick]

Do you have world class beef brisket ten or fifteen minutes from your door?

Of course; grass-fed.

You ain't getting that in Paris or Invercargill bub.

Invercargill might surprise you. Paris is already known for its food.

[Christian Miller]

Sometimes I think I would enjoy studying economics and other times I think the difficulty of separating causation from correlation would drive me insane.

[Litterick]

I was saying pumping out more money into the money supply via the stimulus to get through the pandemic also contributed to inflation, not only supply and demand being messed with. This happened over the course of the end of Trump's term in 20 and the beginning of Biden's term in 21 and would have happened regardless of what administration was in charge.

Inflation is a global phenomenon at present. The inflation rate in New Zealand is now at 6.7%, well above the Reserve Bank’s target band of 1% to 3%. Our delicious food is increasingly expensive: fruit and vegetables prices increased by 18.4 percent in the twelve months to May 2023, while meat, poultry, and fish prices increased by 11.7 percent.

The causes of the current inflation are disputed, and discussed in todays's edition of the Atlantic Daily Isabella Weber, an economist at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, argues that a geopolitical factors provided “cover” for firms to raise prices. This theory of 'greedflation' is shared by other economists, but it has been challenged. Chris Conlon at NYU notes that “Strong demand will also generate rising prices, rising profits, higher output.” He and his colleagues published a paper recently that found no correlation between the companies whose profits have risen the most and the industries in which prices have risen the quickest.

No economist is arguing that money printed by the US Treasury is itself the cause, although consumers spending their stimulus checks might be a factor. The Atlantic Daily also notes, "It’s become a bit of a cliché to say that we are living in unprecedented times. But a rash of recent, intersecting crises—supply-chain snarls, the war in Ukraine, elevated gas prices, bird flu—did scramble consumer spending, leading companies to raise prices over the past few years."

[Christian Miller]

Have you ever had a legit New York style pizza?

Hot take incoming - I found NY pizza to be quite disappointing having had the real thing in Italy on many occasions. maybe it’s just I’m comparing two very different things. But for me; you can get better pizza in London quite honestly.

im aware this could get me banned from ever visiting NY again, and I should probably stick to discussing politics and religion, but what can I say, I’m just a selfless truth teller.

OTOH I did get a very good curry in NY which I wasn’t expecting.

[Christian Miller]

That said in NY I did have a pizza with sprouts on, which was sufficiently out there to not beg comparison with anything else I have eaten.

No Italian would ever do this.

I quite enjoyed it.

It is true hipster pizza is not confined to Manhattan, but I would say that at this point the city appeared to be in thrall to a peculiar obsession with the Brussel sprout which to the English soul seems to reinforce the very alienness of the American milieu.